


Buried Treasure

by StBridget



Series: Dragon Verse [7]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Established Relationship, Family, Family Secrets, Fantasy, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 12:05:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18446201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StBridget/pseuds/StBridget
Summary: Matt's first checkup leads to a startling revelation about Steve. AU Dragon!Danny McDanno established





	1. Surreality Check

**Author's Note:**

> Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators.
> 
> Cross posted from FF.

 

It was at their son Matt's one month check up that Steve McGarrett and his husband Danny Williams got the news.

 

The doctor weighed and measured Matt, checked his ears, eyes, and throat, listened to his heart and lungs, and gave him his shots (which he endured in stoic silence, a feat of which Steve was very proud. In fact, Matt handled it better than Danny, a fact which Danny later vehemently denied). When the doctor was finished, she reached to shake their hands. “Congratulations, gentleman, you have a healthy baby dragon.”

 

“Half-dragon,” Danny corrected automatically, just like he'd been doing since he found out he was pregnant.

 

The doctor looked at him funny. “No,” she said, “full dragon.”

 

“But that's impossible!” Danny exclaimed.

 

“I assure you it's quite possible. His DNA proves it. Didn't anyone share the results of his first blood test with you?”

 

“No, no, no,” Danny insisted. “They must have gotten Matt's blood test mixed up with someone else's.”

 

“Definitely not. The DNA also confirms you and Mr. McGarrett as the parents. He is most definitely full dragon.”

 

“How can that be?” Danny asked. “Steve's not a dragon!”

 

The funny look returned. “Of course he is.”

 

“No, I'm not,” Steve said out, speaking for the first time. “I think I'd know if I was.”

 

“You've never shifted?”

 

“Not that I'm aware of.”

 

The doctor tapped her chin thoughtfully with her pen. “I suppose it's possible. Parental influence is very strong. If they refused to let you, you may never have shifted.”

 

“Yeah, like Steve's good at following orders,” Danny quipped.

 

“Hey, I can follow orders,” Steve protested. “I was in the Navy.”

 

“I don't mean that, precisely. I mean with their will. Baby dragons are very sensitive to that.”

 

Danny looked thoughtful. “That's true. Grace almost never shifted. Rachel didn't want her to. And that would explain why Matt's almost always in dragon form when Steve holds him, but not me.”

 

“Still,” the doctor said, “it's unusual for a dragon to make it through puberty without shifting, repressed or not.”

 

“I was sent to the military academy when I was 15,” Steve said. “Then I went to Annapolis and into the Navy.”

 

“That could do it. Your will must have been iron.”

 

“Still is,” Danny said. “Super Seal over there's not going to do anything he doesn't want to.”

 

“But I'd want to be a dragon!” Steve said. “I love dragons, and I love flying! I wouldn't want to miss out on that!”

 

“If you didn't know, and you never shifted, you wouldn't know you were missing it,” the doctor pointed out.

 

Steve was silent, pondering what the doctor had said.

 

“So is that why Matt's purple while my daughter and I are golden?” Danny asked curiously.

 

The doctor nodded. “Yes. Your husband is a purple dragon, and that's what must have come out.”

 

“I just figured it's because Steve's dark. But my daughter's dark, too, and she's golden in dragon form.”

 

“It's sort of like that,” the doctor explained. “The purple gene is dominant, just like dark hair. So, Matt's purple like Mr. McGarrett.”

 

“But we've never seen him as a dragon!” Steve blurted. “Just half-dragon.”

 

“Have you ever encouraged him to be a dragon?” the doctor asked.

 

“Yes!” Steve said. “All the time!”

 

“Not exactly,” Danny contradicted. “You've wanted him to be a full-dragon, but I've always insisted he was only half, because that's why I thought. I never pictured him as anything but, so he must have picked up on that, especially since I carried him.”

 

“Exactly,” the doctor agreed. “Try it now,” she encouraged.

 

Danny handed Matt to Steve. “You do it, babe. You're the one who wants it so bad.”

 

“Don't you want him to be a dragon?”

 

“Of course,” Danny assured him. “I'd like nothing more. But you're the one who's always pictured him that way.”

 

“Okay.” Steve concentrated, picturing the baby dragon he'd always imagined. Then, suddenly, there it was in his arms—a tiny purple dragon complete with minature wings, a snout, long tail, nasty claws (maybe that part wasn't so nice, Steve conceded. They were pretty nasty in halfway form, but even worse like this. Danny always said he was glad he wasn't breast-feeding), and a pudgy little dragon body. “He's so pretty,” Steve said.

 

“That he is, babe. Just like you.”

 

“He's got your eyes, though.”

 

“Yeah, he does.”

 

“I said he would.”

 

“Yeah you did, and you said he'd be a boy. You were right about that, too.”

 

“And about him being a dragon.”

 

“Unh-unh,” Danny said, shaking his finger at Steve. “That I'm still chalking up to wistful thinking and your obsession with all things dragon.”

 

“It's possible,” the doctor put in. “Purple dragons are known for their psychic abilities.”

 

“Is that why he can hear Grace when I can't, and why we can still feel emotions so strongly even when I'm human?”

 

“Yes,” the doctor confirmed.

 

“Well, you've certainly given us a lot to think about,” Steve said.

 

“That she has.” Danny clapped his husband on the shoulder. “Come on, babe, let's take our baby dragon home.”


	2. Shifting Perspectives

When they got home, Danny took Matt upstairs to put him down for a nap, and Steve went out on the lanai. Danny decided for once to let Matt stay in dragon form, since he hadn't shifted since they left the doctor's office, probably because Steve refused to let go of his “beautiful baby dragon”, as he said. Danny smiled at the recollection. Steve was so sweet with Matt. Steve had been afraid he'd be too big and blundering as a father, but he was really wonderful. Not that Danny would tell him that except under duress.

 

Danny looked fondly down at his son. Matt had fallen asleep almost as soon as he'd been put in his crib, curling up like a cat. He barely fit like that. If he kept growing like he had been, he'd be too big to sleep in it in dragon form in a couple of weeks. Maybe he could sleep in his playpen on a bed of blankets. Danny liked to nest in dragon form; stood to reason Matt would too. He sighed. He'd thought raising a half dragon would be bad enough; at least he had experience with that. Raising a full dragon was going to be a trial. Raising a full dragon who was Steve McGarrett's son was really going to try his patience. He'd be lucky if he lived through it.

 

Danny watched his son sleep a few more minutes, then headed downstairs to check on Steve. He found Steve sitting on the lanai, deep in thought. Danny reached out through the link to see what he was thinking about, but all he could get was a sense of deep concentration. He put his hand on Steve's shoulder and Steve started. “Whatcha thinking about, babe?”

 

Steve frowned. “I'm trying to shift, but it's not working.”

 

“Maybe you're trying too hard.”

 

“How do I do it then? You make it look so easy.”

 

“That's because I've had 40 years of practice. You've barely had 40 minutes. Give it time,” Danny said.

 

Patience was never Steve's strong suit. “But I've already waited 40 years! Why can't I do it now?”

 

Danny stood behind Steve and wrapped his arms around him. “Relax, babe. I'll help you.”

 

“Okay,” Steve said. “What do I do first?”

 

Danny moved in front of him and held out his hand to help him up. “First we get you down on the beach. If you shift here, you're going to wreak havoc on the lawn chairs and who knows what else. Really, Steven, did you even stop and think before you just decided you were going to shift willy-nilly?”

 

Steve followed Danny down onto the sand, smiling at his ranting and hand-waving. That was one of the things he loved about his Danno, and he couldn't get that in dragon form. “Now what?”

 

“Now you take off your clothes, because if you rip them because you're too impatient to take the time to take them off, I'm not going to be the one to sew them up again. With how eager you always are to strip off your shirt and parade around, you'd think that wouldn't be a problem.”

 

Steve smiled wider. Danny was in fine form. Steve was starting to forget his disappoint at not being able to shift on his own. He obediently stripped down, Danny doing likewise. “What next?”

 

“Watch me and concentrate on what I'm feeling.”

 

Steve did, trying to get into Danny's mind as he shifted. He couldn't sense much. One minute Danny was a man, the next he was a dragon. There wasn't much else.

 

“ _What did you see?”_ Danny asked through their link.

 

Steve frowned. “You changing into a dragon. What was I supposed to see?”

 

“ _Not with your eyes, Steve, with your mind. Here, I'll do it again.”_ Danny shifted back into human form, then into a dragon again. Steve closed his eyes to better sense what Danny was feeling, what Danny was seeing in his head. He saw a picture of Danny as a human, then Danny as a dragon. “Same thing. You, human. You, dragon.”

 

“ _That's right.”_

 

“But I did that,” Steve said. “I pictured myself as a dragon and nothing happened!” Steve tried again, thinking as hard as he could, but he still couldn't shift.

 

“ _I told you, you're trying too hard. Here, one more time.”_ Danny did the dragon-man-dragon shift again. _“You'd better get this soon. I can't do this many more times. It takes a lot of energy.”_

 

Steve wasn't getting it. “It's just, poof, you're there. It's like it's effortless...Oh,” he said, finally getting it.

 

“ _Exactly. Like I said, you're trying too hard. Try it again.”_

 

Steve closed his eyes and pictured himself as a large dragon in his mind. He saw deep purple scales, wide wings, a long snout, a long tail, and nasty claws. He kind of liked the claws, so he pictured them extra long. He didn't feel anything, and he started to tense up, frustrated. But then he remembered what Danny said and forced himself to relax. He took a deep breath and felt the energy flow through him. He felt his snout lengthen, and his tail start to form, and he felt himself getting bigger. . .His eyes flew open. “What's happening?!?” That broke his concentration, and he snapped back to himself.

 

“ _You were shifting. It feels funny the first few times. Don't worry about it. Try again.”_

 

Steve relaxed again and brought the picture to his mind again, just letting himself be. This time when he started to shift, he willed himself not to be startled, to just let it happen. _“That's it,”_ Danny encouraged. _“You're almost there.”_

 

Steve opened his eyes when he felt the shifting stop. The world looked weird. He was at least 15 feet up, pleased to find he was still looking down at Danny even in this form. He flapped his wings, testing them out. Wow, that was weird. Good, but weird. He lifted up a claw. Wicked, just like he'd pictured. Steve bet he could do some real damage with those. He smiled inwardly at the thought. He looked at the scales. Deep purple, just like Matt's. Matt really did take after him. Steve twisted around to see his tail, following it around in a circle like a puppy.

 

He heard Danny chuckle in his mind. _“Looks different up here, doesn't it?”_

 

“ _I did it, I really did it!”_

 

“ _You sure did, babe. I'm proud of you.”_

 

Steve had a thought. _“Um, Danny, there's just one thing.”_

 

“ _Yeah, Steve?”_

 

“ _How do I shift back?”_

 

 


	3. Buried Emotions

Once Steve had shifted back into human form, he wanted to shift again and again. He kept spinning around in circles to catch a glimpse of his new body, almost falling over in his eagerness. He made Danny run to the house for a full length mirror so he could study himself, but all he could see was his head. The only thing he recognized about himself was his eyes, which stared back at him the same as always. He admired his claws, and gouged great tracks in the sand. He even demolished a lawn chair before Danny stopped him. He flexed his wings, admiring their power. He would have flown off, but Danny stopped him. “Oh, no, no, no, babe. Crawl before you walk, or in this case, walk before you fly. We have to get you used to moving on land, first.”

Finally, Steve’s curiosity seemed sated, for the moment, and he shifted back to human form and stayed there. The elation was starting to ebb, and Danny reached out through their soulmate link to try to sense what Steve was feeling. He felt dark thoughts starting to creep in, and he had a bad feeling he knew where they were going.

Danny laid a hand on Steve’s arm. “What’s going through your mind, babe?”

Steve didn’t reply for a moment, and Danny was afraid he was retreating into himself. Danny projected love and encouragement through their link, trying to draw him out. At last Steve spoke. “They didn’t tell me, Danny.”

Danny didn’t have to ask who he was referring to. “I know, babe, I know.”

“How could they do that to me?” Steve was starting to get angry. “How could they keep something like that from me?”

“I’m sure they had their reasons,” Danny said, trying to keep Steve calm.

It had the opposite effect. “Don’t give me that bullshit,” Steve snapped. “The only reasons they had were selfish, just like they always were.”

Danny kept trying. “Maybe they were just trying to protect you. Maybe they didn’t want you to get teased.”

“Maybe they didn’t want to ruin their own reputations, you mean,” Steve said bitterly. “That’s all they ever cared about. They never cared about what it might do to me and Mary.”

Danny had to get Steve back under control before something drastic happened, and Danny had a pretty good idea what that would be from his own experience. “Steve, it’s okay. It’s alright.”

Steve jerked away from him. “No, it’s not okay! It’s not alright! It’s just another lie! All they ever did was lie to me! Why? Why couldn’t they tell me truth?”

Danny took one last stab at reason. “Maybe they were afraid of how you’d react.”

“As opposed to how I’d react now, learning my whole life was a lie? Learning everything I thought I was was false?”

Danny pulled him close. “It’s not, babe. You’re still you. It doesn’t change that.”

“It changes everything!” Steve yelled. “They didn’t trust me with this! They didn’t trust me with anything!” Anger gave way to tears, and he held onto Danny tightly, sobbing.

Danny felt Steve’s muscles shift under his hands, and he stepped away hastily as Steve disappeared and a 40-foot long, 15-foot high purple dragon appeared in his place. Danny didn’t know dragons could cry, but Steve was doing a damn good job of it, tears streaming from his eyes and dripping off his snout. Danny shifted too, twining his neck around Steve’s in a strangely intimate gesture. “Shh, shh, shh,” he said. He made what Steve supposed passed were crooning noises with a dragon, but they were stuttery, loud, and discordant. Steve would have found it funny under other circumstances.

After a while, Steve's sobs subsided to be replaced by hiccups, another thing Steve would have found funny some other time. He caught a twinge of amusement from Danny, but bless him, he didn't laugh.

“ _Got it all out?”_ Danny asked through their link.

Steve nodded and sniffled. This time Danny did laugh, a loud bark that even amused Steve. He would have smiled, but dragon jaws weren't meant for it.

“ _Let's get you shifted back,”_ Danny suggested.

Steve nodded again, concentrated, and shifted. Danny shifted too and immediately wrapped his arms around Steve. “What's done is done. We'll make up for lost time.”

Steve smiled. “I'd like that.”

“There's just one more thing, though,” Danny said hesitantly, afraid of setting Steve off again.

“What?”

“You gotta tell Mary.”


	4. Dragon Kin

“He’s adorable,” Mary said, cooing over Matt. “Let me hold him.”

Steve reluctantly passed Matt to Mary.

“He looks like you.”

“He has Danny’s eyes, though,” Steve said.

“That he does,” Mary agreed. “You’re lucky—he’s human like you, not a dragon like Danny.”

Steve got a bad feeling in the pit of him stomach. “I thought you liked Danny.”

“I do!” Mary hastened to assure him, “And he’s an absolutely gorgeous dragon, but you have to admit the whole thing’s just kind of weird.”

Steve was getting angry. “That’s my husband you’re talking about! My _soulmate_ , and I happen to _love_ him as a dragon!”

“Hey, hey, take it easy,” Mary said. “I’m just saying you’re lucky Matt’s human.”

Steve took a deep breath, trying to calm down. If he didn’t get his emotions under control, Danny would come running, or Steve would shift, and he didn’t want to do that without warning. At least he’d had the foresight to bring Mary outside so he wouldn’t wreck the house, something Danny kept giving him dire warnings about. “I swear, Steven, someday you’re just going to shift without thinking and bring this whole house down on us.” Thinking about Danny’s rants made him smile inwardly despite his anger and helped calm him.

“Actually,” Steve said, trying to keep his voice level, “Matt is a dragon.”

Mary looked a bit surprised. “He doesn’t look it.”

Steve gently took Matt back. He held him a minute, and then, instead of a chubby little boy, he was holding a baby purple dragon.

Mary was taken aback. “Oh.”

Steve made soothing noises at Matt, who was starting to fuss, sensing his father was upset. He gently coaxed Matt to shift back to human form and laid him in the carrier he’d used to bring Matt down to the beach. He prayed he could hold it together enough to keep Matt from shifting suddenly. Matt had done it before, when Danny or Steve was particularly agitated, and then the infant panicked. It was just a bad scene all around.

Steve steeled himself for what was coming. “There’s more. I’m a dragon, too.”

“Of course you’re not!” Mary said. “Really, Steven, that’s a poor joke to pull on your own sister.”

“No, it’s true.” He concentrated and shifted.

Mary found herself staring at a 40-foot long, 15-foot high purple dragon. Part of her mind noted that he was quite a magnificent sight. He wasn’t as elegant as Danny, who was long and slender, with golden scales that glinted in the sun. Steve was bigger, bulkier, darker, but no less impressive. The rest of her mind was busy freaking out. “What the hell!?!”

“ _It’s okay,”_ Steve said in her mind. _“It’s just me.”_

Mary jumped. “What are you doing?!?”

Mary could sense Steve’s puzzlement. _“Talking. In your mind. Dragons can do that, and we’re family, so it comes naturally. Plus, apparently purple dragons are really good at it.”_

“Well, stop it!” Mary ordered. “It’s freaky. Talk to me like a normal human.”

Steve shifted again. “Is that better?”

“No! Yes! I don’t know!” Mary tried to calm herself.

“Geez, Mary, calm down. You look like you’re about to jump out of your skin.”

“I don’t know why,” Mary said sarcastically. “It’s not like I just found out my brother is a telepathic dragon. Jesus, Steve, what are you trying to do to me?”

Once again, Steve took a deep breath. This was not going well, and it was about to get worse. “There’s more. You’re a dragon, too.”

Mary was horrified. “No, no, I’m not. That’s impossible.”

“It’s true,” Steve said gently. “Apparently Mom and Dad were both dragons. Another thing they kept from us,” he said bitterly.

“No, they weren’t! You’re lying!”

“Yeah, they were. How else do you think we’d be dragons?”

Mary was nearly hysterical. “You! You may be a dragon, but don’t go dragging me into your little fantasy! I’m human, do you understand me, Steve? I’m _human_.”

“I know it’s hard to believe,” Steve said. “But you’ll accept it in time. I did.”

“That’s because you’re a freak who’s obsessed with dragons!” Mary yelled at him. “I’m not. I’m _normal_ , and don’t you try to convince me otherwise.”

Steve gave up trying to convince her. “I’m sorry, Mar.”

Mary glared. “Don’t be sorry, just stay out of my life, okay?”

With that, she stalked off, rounding the house to her car as Danny came out. “I take it that didn’t go well.”

“No, it didn’t,” Steve said sadly. He picked up Matt, who was wailing now, upset at all the yelling. He cooed at him until he settled down, using the time to try to bring himself under control. “I really thought she’d take it better. She was so accepting of you.”

Danny put his arms around his husband. “It’s one thing to find out your brother’s boyfriend is a dragon. It’s another to find out you are.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Steve sighed. “Do you think she’ll ever come around?”

“I don’t know,” Danny said. “It’ll probably take her a while.”

Steve couldn’t hold back his emotions and started crying. Now, on top of everything else, he’d lost his sister. Maybe being a dragon wasn’t such a good thing after all.


	5. Dragon Tears

A couple of weeks after Mary's disastrous visit, Steve found Grace sitting on the beach, watching Danny fly, knees tucked up under her chin and arms wrapped around them. Steve sat down beside her. “What's up?” he asked.

 

Grace was startled. “Uncle Steve! I thought you'd be out flying with Danno!”

 

“Nah, Danny won't let me yet. Says I'm not ready.”

 

“Why not?” Grace asked.

 

Steve looked embarrassed. “I may have tried once or twice when he wasn't around. It, um, didn't go well.”

 

Grace leveled a gaze at him that Steve had seen far too many times from her father. “What did you do?”

 

“Nothing!” Steve protested. “I missed the house! Only took out a couple of bushes! And I wasn't out so far when I crashed into the water that I wasn't able to shift and swim back to shore!”

 

Grace sighed. “Oh, Uncle Steve.” And again, Steve thought she sounded just like her father. Danny had given him the same sigh and said his name in the same tone more times than he could count. “No wonder Danno won't let you fly.”

 

Steve shrugged. “Yeah, well, give it time.”

 

Grace sighed again, wistfully this time. “At least you _can_ fly. I can't.”

 

“Yeah, but flying with Danno's almost as good.”

 

Grace looked sad. “He's never taken me flying. Mom wouldn't let him.”

 

Steve felt a surge of anger, not for the first time, at the woman who had tried to stifle the dragon side of Grace and Danny, who had made her own daughter ashamed of herself and her heritage. “I bet he would now, if you asked him. And if he won't, I will—as soon as I learn, that is.”

 

“It's not the same, though.”

 

“No, I suppose not,” Steve said. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

 

“What's it like?” Grace asked.

 

“What, flying?”

 

“No, the whole being a dragon thing.”

 

Steve was surprised at the question. “I just found out, and I'm still learning. I'd think you'd know better than I do. I mean, you're a dragon, too.”

 

“ _Half_ -dragon,” Grace corrected. “I can't do half the things you and Danno can, and Matt, too, when he gets older. I can't fly, and I can only shift halfway, and I can't communicate telepathically very well. You're the only one who can really hear me. Even Danno has trouble sometimes.”

 

Steve was taken aback. He hadn't stopped to think how hard it must be on Grace, to be surrounded by dragons and not be a full-blood herself. It was probably bad enough when it was just Danny, but now with Steve learning he's a dragon, too, and a new, full-blooded half-brother, it must be really hard on her. “That doesn't mean you're not as good,” he said. “Just different.”

 

Grace wasn't convinced. “What can I do that you can't?”

 

Steve thought for a moment. “Surf. Well, I can surf, but Danno can't. You're way better than he'll ever be.”

 

“But that has nothing to do with being a dragon.”

 

“So what?” Steve countered. “It has to do with being _you,_ and that's the important thing, not whether you're dragon or half-dragon, or human, or anything like that. You're _Grace_ , with all your good qualities and all your bad qualities, and you should be proud of who you are, not ashamed because you're part-dragon, or resentful because you're not full.”

 

Grace thought over what he'd said, then giggled. “Danno is a pretty lousy surfer, isn't he?”

 

Steve grinned at her. “The worst,” he agreed.

 

Grace sobered again. “Thanks, Uncle Steve.”

 

“Anytime, Monkey, anytime.”

 


	6. A Family of Dragons

Steve stayed on the beach after Grace went up to bed, thinking. Danny found him there when he came back from his flight. He could tell Steve was lost in thought, but the bond gave him no leads about what. “Hey, babe, whatcha thinking?”

 

“Grace was here,” Steve said. “She was upset because she's only half dragon and the rest of us are full.”

 

Danny joined Steve in the sand, cringing inwardly at the thought of just where it would go. He still didn't like the sand and its habit of getting in inappropriate places. “What'd you tell her?”

 

“That she should be proud of who she was, and it didn't matter if she was human or half-dragon or full dragon. And that even if she couldn't fly, she could do things you can't, like surf.”

 

Danny cringed. “You had to bring up the surfing, didn't you?”

 

“You really should take her flying.”

 

“Yeah, I know. It's just Rachel didn't like it, thought it was too dangerous, she said, but I think she just didn't like the thought I could give Grace something she couldn't, something Stan's money could never buy.”

 

“I think it's time,” Steve said. “Let her be part of it, even vicariously. I think it would help.”

 

“Yeah, you're right.” It was Danny's turn to be thoughtful. “You're really good with her. You've really helped her come to terms with what she is.”

 

“I try. I don't like her thinking she isn't good enough.”

 

“Yeah. Damn Rachel anyway.”

 

They were silent a few minutes. It was clear something was still on Steve's mind, but Danny still couldn't get a sense of what. “I know that's not all that's on your mind. What else is going on up there?”

 

“I was just thinking, I told Grace to be proud of who she was, but I'm not sure who _I_ am anymore.”

 

“Yeah, your self-image has kind of taken a beating lately.”

 

Steve snorted. “More like it's been completely turned on its head. I used to admire you for being a dragon, and now suddenly  _I'm_ one. It's absolutely amazing, but it still doesn't seem like part of who I am.”

 

“You'll get used to it eventually. It took me almost 40 years to come to terms with it, and I was raised as a dragon. It took you to help me see how much a part of me it is,” Danny said.

 

Steve frowned, trying to put his thoughts into words. “I guess I'm saying I still  _feel_ human. It's not that I'm going to hide my dragon self, it's just that I'm more comfortable as a human.”

 

“That's okay, babe,” Danny said. “Like you told Grace, it doesn't matter if you're human or dragon or whatever; it just matters that you're proud of who you are.”

 

“So you don't mind if I mostly stay human.”

 

“Of course not,” Danny assured him. “But I want to see you as a dragon sometimes.”

 

“So I don't forget that part of me?” Steve guessed.

 

“Nope. Well, that, too, but my reasons are entirely selfish.”

 

It was Danny's turn to put his thoughts into words. “You know how much you like looking at me when I'm a dragon?”

 

“Yeah. . .”

 

“That's the way I feel about you.”

 

Steve was puzzled. “But why? You're a dragon, too. You know what they look like.”

 

“I'm a man, too, and I know what men look like. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate individuals.”

 

“But what's so special about me?”

 

Danny was amazed at how insecure Steve could be. “What isn't? You're an incredibly attractive man, but you're an even better dragon. You're so imposing, and muscular, and your wings are so big and powerful I just know you'll be amazing when you learn to fly. And your color—I've never seen such a deep purple, except for Matt. It's absolutely beautiful.”

 

Steve was awed. “You really think that about me?”

 

“Of course I do! Who wouldn't?” Danny grinned then, feeling a need to lighten the mood. “Besides, now I have another dragon to play with.”

 

“You have two,” Steve pointed out. “Me and Matt. Three if you count Grace.”

 

“So I do. Guess we're just a family of dragons, huh?”

 

“Guess so.”

 

Danny rose and held out his hand to Steve. “C'mon babe. Let's go put our little dragon family to bed.”

 

Steve got up and happily followed him inside.

 

 


End file.
